Expectations
by NeverMindDream
Summary: This is a try at a CSI:NY fanfic, we really just hope you enjoy...Danny and Shelby have no idea what to expect when a candid liason turns into a working relationship. It's finished! Thanks to all who told us they liked it, you guys rock! [DannyOC]
1. Nice to meet you

AN This story is a collaboration between Nevermind and Dream. We hope you enjoy our fantasy ramblings and please RR. If there is something to improve we'd like to know…if you love it and want more we want to know that too and before you ask unfortunately we do not own Danny Messer or any character affiliated with the CSY:NY cast…we do however own the original characters and don't like to share…so just leave them with us kay? Anyway we'll shut up and let you read…hope you enjoy…there might be more if you do. :)

**Expectations  
**©2005 NeverMindDream

CSI Danny Messer sat down on a stool in front of the counter of his favorite sports bar, O'Maley's. He ordered a beer and took a long drink. It had been a long week.

"You look like a cop," a female voice beside him said. He hadn't even seen her there; he'd been so focused on getting his beer. She was a striking strawberry blonde who had the most amazing blue eyes. Her wavy hair was pulled up in a messy-but-not-really bun and she had on a pale blue halter-top cut just low enough to reveal a scintillating amount of cleavage. She was running her fingers over the rim of a martini glass and giving him a sly smile. This might be a better night than he'd hoped for.

"How can you tell?" he asked, smiling back at her as he took her in.

She opened the flap of her small, pale blue purse to reveal her own badge. "Lucky guess," she grinned. "Shelby Winters, NARC." She held out her hand to him.

He took it. "Danny Messer, CSI."

"Mm," she murmured. "Forensic science. Is it strange that I find it arousing to know that you probably know more about my anatomy than I do?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

He liked the way she was working this conversation. "Works for me," he said, not letting her hand go.

"So, Danny Messer, CSI, what are you drinking to forget?" she asked, leaning in so that she didn't have to talk as loud and so she could reveal just a little more skin for him.

"Ah, it's just been a long week," he said dismissively. He wasn't really interested in talking shop. "What about you?"

She raised her glass to him. "The one who got away," she offered.

"Perp or love interest?" he asked.

She gave him a sidelong look and squeezed his hand. "Perp," she told him.

"You know, I wouldn't peg you as a NARC," he said.

"I know. That's why I'm so damn good at my job," she answered.

Danny nodded at the bartender to pour her another drink. "I take it you don't have a boyfriend," he tried.

She put his hand on her knee. "If I had a boyfriend, I would have much better things to do than drown my sorrows in martinis, don't you think?"

"Your partner didn't want to join you?"

"My partner is married with two adorable little girlsthat I love. He invited me over, but being lonely in a place like that is way worse than being lonely here." She sipped at her martini, refusing to break eye contact with him. "What about you? You don't have a girlfriend, do you?"

He shook his head. "No time."

She laughed. "That's what they all say."

He feigned shock. "What? You come on to a lot of cops like this?"

She rolled her eyes. "They only wish. No, CSI Danny Messer, I haven't come on to a cop in a very long time."

"So what made you change your mind?" he wanted to know, insanely turned on by her easy teasing.

She looked him square in the eye. "You're hot and I'm horny."

She'd caught him off guard. He hadn't expected that forward of an answer. He licked his lips. "All right then," he finally managed.

She squinted at him, trying to get a read on him. "What? You in love with your partner or something?"

"Who me? No."

She wasn't ready to give up on this one just yet. "But you've thought about it."

He shrugged. "How could I not? She's a stunning Latina."

"And your issue is…" she prompted.

"First off, I don't date girls I work with. Second, she's not my type."

"Ah, and so what is your type then?" she wanted to know.

"You're starting to look more like it," he teased back.

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm hot and you're horny."

She threw back her head and laughed. Oh yes, he thought to himself, this could end up being a fantastic night.


	2. On The Same Page

AN Just learning how to add chapters so we thought we'd put another one up tonight...we'll work on more soon.

* * *

She threw back her head and laughed. Oh yes, he thought to himself, this could end up being a fantastic night. 

"I'm glad to know we're on the same page," she said.

"It would seem that way, Shelby Winters, NARC," he said, running his fingers down her bare arm.

He watched her features soften slightly and the beginning of her bedroom eyes starting to appear at his touch. She finished off her second martini and ordered them another round.

"Quick," she said in his ear, "Tell me more about yourself before I get too drunk to care."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "What do you want to know? I'm 32, single, I like long walks on the beach…"

"Oh god, please don't start!" she said, giggling.

"Well what? Tell me what you want to know," he said, liking her laugh more and more.

"Why did you become a cop?"

"I broke my wrist and couldn't play baseball," he said. "Next question."

"Why forensics?"

He let his gaze travel over her again. "So I could know more about your anatomy than you do." He smiled as a soft blush came to her cheeks. "What else?"

"Siblings?"

"A sister."

"Okay, I'm done," she said, pulling away from him with a smile. He wanted her close again.

"Now you," he said.

"Now me what?" she asked innocently.

"Tell me about yourself before I'm too drunk to care. Same questions."

"Why did I become a cop…" she mused. "Someone told me I couldn't," she said with a mischievous smile.

"Why NARC?"

"The last cop I dated went to homicide and I needed to be as far from him as I could get."

"Who was the last cop you dated?"

"I never asked you that question," she protested.

"I've never dated a cop," he countered.

"I don't want to say."

"Why not?"

"You might know him and stop being interested in me."

He looked over at her hand that was still rhythmically stroking her martini glass and raised an eyebrow at her. "I highly doubt that."

"Don Flack."

This time, both of Danny's eyebrows shot up. "You dated Flack?"

"See? I knew you'd know him!" she exclaimed, flustered.

"No, no," he was laughing at her reaction. "It's cool. When?"

"Ah, we had a 'thing' back when we were both rookies. It was self-destructive right from the start."

"A 'thing', hey?" he said.

"Yes, a 'thing.' He was cute in a Sasquatch kind of way. Can we move on now?"

He was still laughing at her defensiveness. "No! I wanna hear more about this 'thing' with Sasquatch Flack. I'm fascinated!"

She glared at him a moment then grabbed his face and kissed him.

"What were we talking about?" he asked weakly when she pulled away.

"Exactly," she said, liking that way more than she should have.

"You know, we were, uh, we were on the same page earlier," he tried, pushing a strand of hair away from her face.

She just smiled that confident cocky smile of hers and leaned into him. "Let's go dancing first," she said, biting his ear softly.


	3. We're Gone

_

* * *

__She just smiled that confident cocky smile of hers and leaned into him. "Let's go dancing first," she said, biting his ear softly._

She got off her stool and led him by the hand out the door and down the street to a dance club.

"I can't dance," he protested with a laugh.

"Doesn't matter," she grinned, flashing her badge at the bouncer who opened the VIP door for her.

"That was easy," Danny commented, now pressed up behind her with his hands on her hips – partly out of necessity (the place was packed) and partly out of wanting to be that close to her.

"I've done a few busts here. They know me," she said, her hips starting to gyrate to the music. Danny had a funny feeling this wasn't going to turn out well for him and that that was a very, very good thing.

She led him to the middle of the floor where they easily found and matched each other's rhythms. She had one hand on the back of his neck and the other on his bicep. She was watching him closely, gauging his reactions to her. She adapted and changed to him easily and naturally, sometimes pressing close to him and sometimes pulling away.

He bent down so he could talk in her ear. "You're making me crazy," he said, smelling her perfume in her hair.

"Good," she answered, not entirely ready to finish with the foreplay yet.

Danny could hardly stand it. She reeked of sex and he could hardly keep himself from taking her right there on the dance floor. So he bent down and kissed her because he had to do something.

She returned his kiss, glad to discover that he knew what he was doing. When he started kissing her neck, however, she knew she would have to move this to a more private locale. She slowly started walking him back towards the back door.

"Can we go now?" he asked, hoping she wasn't planning on shutting him down this far in.

She grinned. "We're gone," she said, opening the fire door at the back. She took him by the hand and started running down the alley. Danny lost track of where they were until they stopped at an old brownstone building. She slid a key in thedoor and led him inside. She turned her back to him so that she could lock behind her. When she faced him again she found Danny standing right there, head tilted to the side just looking at her. "You know I really enjoy that look you ha…"

He pressed her up against the door and kissed her stopping her sentence; sliding his hands underneath her shirt, he caressed her bare back. When she groaned against his mouth he leaned back and looked at her with a smirk, "You have a bedroom or is this," he knocked on the door behind her head, "…a really strong door?"


	4. Back To Work

AN We still don't own any of them, we're trying though and if we ever manage to do so we will take votes on who wants to share...0)

_

* * *

When she groaned against his mouth he leaned back and looked at her with a smirk, "You have a bedroom or is this," he knocked on the door behind her head, "…a really strong door?"_

* * *

Shelby hated phones; she only ever used them because her job necessitated them. She hated them more when they rang while she was sleeping, not only sleeping, dreaming and it was a wonderful dream. 

"You gonna get that?" His voice, rather close to her ear, jarred her back to reality. She smiled to herself, dreaming was even better when it was really happening.

"Yeah, yeah." She mumbled and reached for the phone by her bed around the same time something started buzzing at the other end of the room. "Yeah, hi, what?" She said into the phone as she watched him mumble his way out of her bed and across the room to where his cell phone was vibrating. She smiled to herself, he really was as hot as she remembered and he had a phenomenal ass.

"Winters are you listening to me?" Her supervisor's voice forced her to look away from the eye candy in her bedroom.

"Huh, no sorry I didn't hear you, what's wrong?" Danny winked at her while listening to whoever had called him.

"Mike 'the mouth' is dead…I need you, now." She just barely heard the street address before he hung up.

"Duty calls," Danny grumbled, reaching for his clothes.

"You too?" she asked, sitting up and stretching. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and started getting dressed.

"God, you're gorgeous," Danny commented, staring at her, his shirt on both arms, but not over his head yet.

She grinned. "Now there's a compliment I can take seriously," she quipped.

"What? You didn't believe anything I said last night?" he asked in mock offense.

"I never believe anything a drunk horny man tells me till the morning after – when he's no longer drunk."

"What about horny?" Danny asked.

"He'd better still be horny in the morning or I didn't do my job," she grinned. "And I may not have believed everything you said, but I believe everything you did." She kissed his ear as she walked by him out of the room, "Coffee?"

He turned and watched her walk out of the room, "Damn woman."

She laughed and called over her shoulder, "Yeah I know."

Quickly pulling the shirt over his head, he stopped inthe bathroom and rinsed his mouth with the mouthwash she had there. "So, I know why I was called, what about you?" He said once he joined her in the kitchen.

She had opted against making coffee and instead was chewing on a bagel she had just toasted, she handed him the other half. "An informant of mine was killed last night, west side."

Accepting the bagel, he stopped after taking a bite and looked at her, "Upper?" He managed to get out before swallowing.

"Yeah, why?"

He smiled at her, "That's where my DB is, want to share a cab?"

"Only if we stop at Starbucks," She agreed.

* * *

They were both sipping from their cups when they got out of the cab and walked toward the crime scene. 

"You made good time," Aiden Burn said to her partner.

"Stunning Latina?" Shelby whispered at Danny. He just nodded. "Aiden, this is Shelby Winters from NARC. Shelby, Aiden Burn."

The two women shook hands. "Nice to meet you," Aiden said, giving Danny a quizzical look.

Detective Don Flack approached the trio.

"Danny, DB's name is…" he stopped mid-sentence when he recognized Shelby.

"Don," she greeted him, trying to gauge his response.

"Shelby," he said.

"You two know each other?" Aiden asked as Danny bent over the victim. He could not repress his grin.

"Sasquatch," said under his breath. Shelby kneed him in the ribs.

"Don and I go way back," she told Aiden.

Don looked from Shelby to Danny and back again. "You on a date?" he asked, unable to conceal the bitterness in his voice.

"I wish. This vic happens to be my informant," she said.

"I thought you swore off cops," he said.

"CSIs don't count," she came back quickly. "But I interrupted you. You were gonna tell us about this guy."

She and Flack stared each other down for a moment before he continued. "As I was saying, the DB's name is Mike Kortanze. But if he's your informant, maybe you should tell us about him," Flack said.

"Sure. We typically called this guy 'the mouth.' He's been our stool for a few years now. Works for one of the bigger Columbian cartels. He's been making some great inroads and we were getting close to making some big arrests based on the info he's been giving us."

"You think someone found him out?" Danny asked, trying to avoid Flack's dark stare.

She shrugged. "They always know who the stools are. They just don't always kill them right away. They let them give us just enough information to get us going, but not enough to get us anywhere, if you catch my meaning."

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Better let the boys know it's time to haul in the usual suspects," she said, stepping away from the crime scene.

Danny and Aiden tried to get back to work, but Flack pulled Danny aside.

"What's up with you and Shelby?"

"What? It's your business?" Danny asked.

"Look, man. I know this girl. She's dangerous. Watch your back."

"I like a little danger in my dating diet," Danny told him.

"Not this kind of danger," Flack warned.

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that," Danny said, walking away to continue processing the scene.

"What was that all about?" Aiden asked Danny.

"Nothing," he told her.

"Oh, come on, Danny, I haven't had any good gossip for weeks. Give me something."

"Flack and Shelby used to have a 'thing' back when they were both rookies," Danny conceded.

"A 'thing'? What does that mean?" Aiden asked.

He just shrugged. "She didn't want to talk about it."

"So you and her…" Aiden implied with a raise eyebrow.

Danny just grinned. "I ain't giving you that much gossip, sister."

Both CSIs looked over their shoulder when they heard a car approach. Shelby walked toward it to greet the man who got out.

"Danny," Aiden said, "Check this out." She pulled a plastic bag out of the DB's pants pocket. It was full of a white powder.

"Drugs?" Danny asked.

"I'm guessing," she said. "Maybe your friend could tell us what it is."

Danny stood up and waved Shelby and the man she was talking to over.

"Danny, this is my partner, Ben Fellows. Ben, Danny Messer, CSI," she introduced the two men.

"Hey, nice to meet you," Danny said, shaking his hand. "Shelby, we found this in the vic's pants pocket. Figured you might know what it is."

Shelby frowned. "Ah, shit," she muttered, opening the bag. "I hope this isn't what I think it is." She put her gloved finger in the powder and held it up for a closer look. She then carefully tasted the substance.

"Is it?" Ben asked.

She nodded. "We're in trouble, Ben."

"So they know?"

"Oh, they more than know. They're showing off."

"Showing off what?" Danny asked.

She sealed the bag tightly and handed it back to him. "This is diamond heroin. As pure as you can get it."

"Your informant was dealing this stuff?" Danny asked.

She shook her head. "Oh no, this was planted on him. His bosses are on to us and they're showing off their merchandise." She ran a hand over her face. "Run that bag for prints, will you? I'm praying they're not as smart as they're trying to make me think."

"We need to go," Ben said.

"Yeah. Let's debrief with Don and then hit the street," she told him. She turned to Danny. "Let Flack know what you find. He knows how to get a hold of me." And with that, she was gone.

"Diamond heroin," Danny told Aiden when he got back to her.

"What does that mean?"

"Means its as pure as you can get."

"They took off in a hurry," she said with a nod in Shelby & Ben's direction.

"Apparently this guy's bosses planted it on him to show off their merchandise."

"That's brazen."

"No kidding. Let's do a walk-through of the scene. We don't need any more unexpected show-and-tell items."

"Did you at least get her phone number?" Aiden asked as they started searching the perimeter.

"What?"

"Shelby – did you get her phone number?" she repeated.

Danny smacked his forehead.


	5. Going Undercover

"_Did you at least get her phone number?" Aiden asked as they started searching the perimeter._

"_What?"_

"_Shelby – did you get her phone number?" she repeated._

_Danny smacked his forehead._

* * *

Shelby's partner, Ben, had hooked up with some of the other Narcos who had been working the Operation K-Car case, of which Kortanze was only one of the stools. They wanted to chase down the others to make sure no one else was dead. That left Shelby and Flack to pound the pavement and interview potential witnesses.

"We haven't done this in a long time," Shelby commented, trying to lighten the mood.

Flack remained sullen and silent.

She just shook her head. "Glad to see you haven't changed," she muttered under her breath.

"Neither have you," he shot back.

"You are such a child, you know that, right?"

"At least I have some morals," he said.

She grabbed his arm and flung him, martial arts style, head over heels and on to his back. She pinned his arms to the ground with her legs.

"What do you want from me, Don? You want me to say I'm sorry? I'm sorry. I'm sorry I cheated on you. I'm sorry I lied to you. I was young and impulsive and you scared the shit out of me, okay? I wasn't ready to settle down. I'm still not ready to settle down. It's been five years, Don. You need to let go of this grudge against me. I'm not who you want me to be."

He turned his head away from her. "Get off me," he said.

"No," she answered. "Not till you tell me you've accepted my apology."

"I'll call the police," he threatened blandly.

She couldn't help but smile at that. "We are the police, Don," she said.

"I just…" he started. "You're hard to get over."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Do you accept my apology?"

He sighed. It didn't matter that it had been almost five years since he'd last interacted with her. She still had him wrapped around her little finger. "Yeah, I accept it."

She got up and offered her hand to help him up. "Good. Can we get back to work now?"

Shelby and Flack started knocking on doors and interviewing anyone who might have any idea of what went down but they came up with nothing. No one wanted to talk and Shelby could guess why. This cartel was no Mickey Mouse operation – this was serious business and ratting on them had serious consequences.

"They must have just beat us," she lamented after their last rejection. "Damn it, I hate not getting any leads."

"You and me both," Flack agreed. "This group must be really serious."

"Yeah, but that's not what worries me."

"What worries you?" he wanted to know.

"The fact that they've paid enough attention to our routines worries me. They knew everyone we would want to talk to and they've got to them first." She pulled out a cell phone and dialed a few numbers. "I hate being outdone," she muttered as she waited for the person on the other end to pick up. "Ben, tell me you have some good news," she said.

She rubbed her eyes and grunted a few acknowledgements. "So you got as much as I did," she sighed. "I guess this means I need to go undercover…Okay, yeah. Let's regroup at HQ and work something out." She hung up the phone.

"I hate when you do undercover," Flack told her as they got into his unmarked car.

"Why?"

"Makes me nervous."

"Why would it make you nervous?" she grinned.

"Oh, gee, I don't know, you could like, die," he said sarcastically.

She scoffed. "Haven't died yet." She gave him a sidelong glance. "But that's not why it makes you nervous, is it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It makes you nervous because I usually use my sexuality to get what I want when I'm undercover. That's why you hate it."

He looked away from her. He hated and loved that she knew him so well. "Maybe."

She shook her head. "How do I cure you of me?" she asked.

"If I knew, I'd tell you," he answered.

* * *

Back at HQ, the team debated over a plan of attack.

"Look, they've already got the jump on us. Now we not only have to play catch-up, we have to figure out a new way to go about this," Shelby said.

"CSI pulled a fingerprint off the bag of heroin. It's our new friend, Orlando Yates – you know, the one we've been tailing for a few weeks," Ben said. "He's recently moved up in rank in the world – graduated to distributor about a month ago. Thinks he's king shit of turd island now."

"You think he might be the weakest link?" Flack asked.

"At this point, it doesn't matter. He's all we've got," Shelby said.

The group could see Shelby's mind racing. She was trying to decide the best way to go about this.

"Kay, brainstorm with me a little – how many of our stools have died since we started Operation K-Car?" she asked.

"The mouth is the first one."

She nodded. "That's good. That means we have at least a year of crap on them. That's more cards than we've been able to play with for a long time."

"Yeah, but we have no proof that they haven't been on to us for longer than this," one of the other officers said.

"True. This could just be a set-up for a trap, but I don't know. The fact that they let a newbie handle diamond heroin seems risky. As far as we know, they haven't shown signs of being that smart, have they?" she asked.

Ben shook his head. "Nah, this whole operation has felt like 'new old money' since we started."

"New old money?" Flack asked.

"Like some punk 20-year-old whose dad has run the cartel for years has just taken over," one of the officers explained.

"Too brazen, too bold. Just no caution to speak of," Shelby concurred. "I wanna meet Orlando," she said.

"You wanna bring him in for the heroin?" Flack asked.

She grinned. "Oh no, I wanna see him in his natural environment. I need to see the way this guy works so I can better understand what we're up against."

"You're just looking for an excuse to go undercover," one of the officers grinned.

"Of course I am," she grinned back. "That's why I got into NARC in the first place."

"We need to find out everything we can about Yates," Ben said. Once we know his usual haunts, we can send Shelby in. This team can be our task force." He went on to divvy up tasks and then sent everyone off to get to work.

"Shelby, you go home," Ben said.

"Why? I'm fine."

"I don't care. You know our rule – the person going undercover always takes the night off before hand."

"I made that rule for you, you know," she said. "I have no one who would miss me if anything happened."

Ben frowned at her. "Don't be a jerk – do as I say."

"Yes, dad," she grinned. "I'll see you in the morning."


	6. Picket Fences

"_I made that rule for you, you know," she said. "I have no one who would miss me if anything happened."_

_Ben frowned at her. "Don't be a jerk – do as I say."_

"_Yes, dad," she grinned. "I'll see you in the morning."_

* * *

It had been a long day, Shelby leaned back in the bath, the one luxury she had insisted on when she was looking for an apartment. She felt like she'd lived a lifetime in 24 hours. Seeing Don again was weird and in the context of the previous night and this new guy…her head was swimming. Why was this one night stand not staying that way in her head?

She toweled off and pulled on her most comfortable sweats and favorite tank-top. Piling her hair on top of her head she brushed the stray tendrils aside and started brushing her teeth. That's when there was a knock on the door.She sighed, itwas probably Christine, the nine year old that lived next door. She sometimes came to visit Shelby when she was scared and her mom was working night shift.

Not even checking the peep hole she unlocked and opened the door, toothbrush hanging out of her mouth.

He looked her up and down then smiled, "Now that is sexy."

"Whtj…" She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the apartment then held up her hand andwent back to the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste. "What are you doing here?" She called once she had wiped her mouth.

"I realized I didn't have your phone number." He said calmly from the bathroom door. "So I came to get it."

She spun around, "Stop doing that."

"What?"

"Just being there when I turn around, it's disconcerting."

He smirked at her, "Sorry."

Raising an eyebrow she cocked her head to the side and took him in, "You're really not sorry are you?"

"Nah, so…" He stepped into the bathroom, "Do you taste like mint?"

Regaining her control she laughed and ducked around him, "Probably," she said into his ear, "let me get that number for you."

He inhaled, "That was payback wasn't it?" He followed her down the hall.

"Yeah," She scribbled two numbers onto a piece of paper and handed it to him, "there you go."

He looked down at the paper than back up at her, "Thanks."

"Is that all you came for? Cause you know you could have tracked me down through PD."

"It's true I could have, but then I wouldn't have got to see Winnie-the-pooh there." He indicated the cartoon bear on the front of her tank top.

"It's comfortable."

He laughed, "I already told you it's sexy."

"You can stop being so confident any time now you know." She inhaled.

"Why?"

"Cause it's damn hot and I should be telling you to take the number and go home."

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked reaching for her waist and pulling her towards him.

"You're too damn irresistible for your own good you know that."

"Says the pot to the kettle."

"Touché."

"Are you going to tell me to shut up now?"

"Only if you make me."

"Oh, I have to make you?"

"Good enough," she said with a coy grin, before kissing him within an inch of his life…breathless a few minutes later she started laughing.

He looked at her curiously. "What's so funny?"

She indicated behind her. "I'm up against the fridge and frankly the handle is digging into my back, not comfortable."

"Sorry, got carried away," he grinned and ducked his head rubbing the back of his neck.

Jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist. "Don't you start being cute too, I don't think I could take it."

It took him a mere second to maintain his balance and grab onto her so they didn't fall over. "So let me get this straight, no cute and no sexy…"

"…and hot, stop being hot," she laughed.

He laughed. "Well then you aren't giving me much to go by."

"I like it better that way," she said, kissing him again. "Forces you to be creative."

"So," he said, in between kissing her and carefully making his way through the apartment to the bedroom, "Flack warned me off of you today."

She stopped kissing him and rolled her eyes. "Did he really."

"Said I should watch my back…that you were dangerous," he said into her neck.

"Dangerous?" she asked. "Of course I'm bloody dangerous, I'm a Narco."

They'd made it to the bed so he let her fall back onto it and himself onto her. "I don't think that's what he meant," he said.

"And what do you think he meant?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair.

"I think your 'thing' blew up and bit him in the ass."

"Of course it did. He wanted white picket fences, a wife and kids. I wanted to be a cop."

"And now?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes. "I still want to be a cop, so don't you go falling for me, okay?"

"What makes you think I wouldn't want a cop?" he asked.

"Because I haven't met a guy yet who does."

"Maybe I'm different."

"Maybe you should shut up and get me out of these PJs before I change my mind about you and decide to kick you out," she said.

He cocked an eyebrow at her, trying to decide if she was serious. She was smiling, but her eyes were hard. He decided to change tactics. "I should go back to being cute?" he asked, kissing her lips lightly.

"And sexy," she answered, her body pressing a little harder against him.

"What about hot?" he wanted to know.

"Mm, yes," she answered, pulling his face down to hers. She flipped him on to his back so she was straddling him. "Don't make me tell you to shut up again," she told him.

* * *

She felt the cold as he left the bed before the rest of her was fully awake. "Where are you going?" She asked sleepily.

"You're going UC tomorrow, you need your sleep." He squinted when she turned the light on.

"I was sleeping, you woke me up with this leaving business." It was almost frightening her how much she really didn't want him to go, not that she was going to let on that much just yet.

He pulled his shirt over his head and walked over to her side of the bed, leaning down he kissed her forehead, "Don't you go falling for me okay?" He said with a twinkle in his eye, "I don't like white picket fences."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I don't fall."

He cocked his head to the side with a smirk and traced her jaw line with his finger, "Famous last words, now get some sleep, you'll need it." He tapped her lips lightly.

She nodded and waited till she heard the click of her front door before getting up to lock it behind him. She sighed and rested her head against the cold wood, "I don't fall." She whispered then shook her head and went back to her room, vulnerable was not her thing and whoever Danny Messer thought he was, he wouldn't get her there.


	7. Flack's Ally

AN Thanks to 'Aiden Burn' who posted a review...guess you'll have to read more to find out if there is a love triangle grin...We hope you like it...let us know if how we did it works for you. smile We figured Flack needed an ally so why not Aiden...RR0)

* * *

_She sighed and rested her head against the cold wood, "I don't fall." She whispered then shook her head and went back to her room, vulnerable was not her thing and whoever Danny Messer thought he was, he wouldn't get her there._

* * *

The next morning Aiden entered PD with two coffees and a mission. "What? We have a meeting I didn't know about?" Flack asked when she entered his office and put one of the coffees down in front of him.

"This Shelby Winters. What did she do to you?" Aiden liked to cut to the chase, she got answers a lot quicker that way.

He paused and looked at her for a moment, "What makes you think I'm going to tell you of all people? You're partner's boffing her."

"While 'boffing' is a lovely term, you still haven't answered my question." Aiden could hold her own with almost anyone on the force. She honed the skill daily, trying to prove she wasn't just a pretty face.

Flack looked up at her and was disappointed to see that he wasn't going to get out of this conversation easily. He took a long drink from his coffee to avoid her eyes.

"It was nothing. Just a thing we had back when we were rookies," he finally said dismissively.

"A 'thing', huh? That word has been coming up a lot lately. I'm thinking it was more than just a 'thing' – to you, anyway," Aiden said.

Flack still wouldn't look at her. He hadn't really talked to anybody about what had happened in years. Seeing Shelby again had been harder on him than he would care to admit and here Aiden was, trying to make him admit it.

"Look, Flack, I'm not trying to pry here…"

He looked at her incredulously.

"Okay, maybe I am a little, but I just want to know what I'm looking at here. Are you gonna be a bitch to work with this whole case or what?"

He sighed and rubbed his face. "No, Aiden, I won't be a bitch to work with this whole case."

Aiden looked at him sympathetically. "She really did a number on you, didn't she?"

"Broke my heart six ways from Sunday," he finally admitted.

"When was the last time you saw her?" she asked.

"Five years ago."

"Oh wow, that's more than just a number," Aiden remarked.

"She's, uh, been hard to get over."

"No wonder you warned Danny off."

"He told you that?"

She shrugged. "He's my partner. He's not allowed to have secrets from me." She stood to leave and put a hand on his shoulder. "You ever need to talk," she offered.

He nodded. "Thanks, Aiden."

"Hey, what are friends for?" she winked at him and closed the door behind her.

* * *

Shelby had holed herself into a small office at NARC to go over the information her co-workers had gathered on Orlando Yates. She desperately needed to focus, but all she could think about was Danny. She kind of felt like she had been hungry for something for such a long time and now finally, she'd found someone that not only whet her appetite, but actually filled her up. It scared the shit out of her. There was no way she could afford to get involved with someone, never mind getting involved with a cop. She didn't usually break oaths to herself, but it was like she couldn't help it with this guy.

She stood up, cracked her neck and picked up the file again. Maybe standing would help her focus. She read the file for the third time and finally made it stick in her brain. Yates was 26, old by street standards, and had been involved in drug running as a dealer since he was 20. He mostly sold crack cocaine and had been arrested at least a dozen times for various misdemeanors. He'd managed to avoid any big charges, which is probably what upped his rep enough to get graduated to distributor. He'd become a person of interest a few months ago when it had come to NARC's attention that he'd also graduated from cocaine to heroin – a pretty significant step up.

Shelby pried open a marker for the whiteboard in the room and started jotting notes, trying to profile Yates so that she could begin to anticipate his behavior. It didn't take long till she became lost in her musings.


	8. Not Dating

_Shelby pried open a marker for the whiteboard in the room and started jotting notes, trying to profile Yates so that she could begin to anticipate his behavior. It didn't take long till she became lost in her musings._

* * *

Flack, Danny and Aiden arrived at NARC headquarters precisely at 3:00 pm. They found Detective Ben Fellows bent over his computer, typing furiously with two fingers.

"How is she?" Flack asked him after their brief greeting.

Fellows just bent his head over his shoulder at the closed office behind him.

"How long has she been in there?" Flack asked. Her habits hadn't changed much.

"Since 8:00 this morning," Fellows answered, with barely a look up at them.

"What is she doing?" Aiden asked, unable to hide her curiosity.

"Profiling," Flack said. "She's probably the best profiler in the country, and it's only our luck the FBI haven't found her yet." He walked over to the door. "You think it's safe yet?" he asked Fellows, who just shrugged, non-committal. "She can be a beast when she's trying to break a case," he said, relishing the fact that he still knew a hell of a lot more about her than Danny did.

Danny just let the jibes slide. He was the one who'd left her apartment last night, not Flack, and that was all he needed.

Flack knocked gently on the door.

"What?" Shelby asked from inside, her manners forgotten in her profiling fervor.

"It's Flack and CSI," he said. "Is it safe to come in?"

All he got back was a low grunt.

"Keep your head down," he told Danny and Aiden with a smirk as he opened the door.

She was standing in front of a huge whiteboard, littered with notes in her crisp handwriting. Her hands were on her hips and she'd used a pencil to secure her hair into a bun at the back of her head. She didn't turn to greet them.

The trio gazed at the notes, trying to make sense of her cryptic shorthand.

"He'll be at Club 77 tonight," she said, her voice low and thoughtful. "I need to touch base with one of our stools, get the grapevine buzzing about a potential new buyer for Loyola University."

"Why Loyola?" Aiden ventured.

"Rich, stressed out, guilty Catholics," Shelby told them. "They're ripe for the picking. There's more drug running there than you'd think."

"How you wanna work it?" Fellows asked, having finally torn himself away from his desk. "Quick and dirty?"

"Nah, there's no fun in that. And we won't get what we want, either. I wanna work him tonight. Set up a buy. Then I want you three," she indicated Flack, Danny and Aiden, "to arrest him for the heroin and take him in for questioning. Then I want you to let him go."

"Let him go?" Danny asked, dubious.

She turned suddenly and looked him square in the eye. "Yes."

"Why?" he asked, slightly disconcerted.

"Because I want his street creds to go through the roof," she told him with a grin. "There's no easier way to get what you want than to inflate a man's ego as far as it'll go and let him float you all the way to the top." She winked at Aiden and squeezed her arm as she passed by.

Aiden couldn't help but chuckle. "I really like her," she told Danny.

Danny, Flack and Fellows watched the two women walk out of the room.

"That's not a good idea, letting those two be friends," Flack stated.

Fellows just grinned at him. "She's still getting to you, huh?"

Flack just glared at Fellows while Danny followed the two women with his eyes, increasingly curious about this Shelby person.

* * *

Shelby eyed Aiden for a minute, "So you want to help me pull this sting off?"

"How?" Aiden was curious and definitely intrigued that this obvious veteran officer wanted her to help out.

"When you get Yates in custody, flirt with him. Make him think that any other circumstances, you'd be all over him in a heartbeat. Come up with any excuse you can think of that might make him seem less guilty. Make a bit of a scene just before you let him go…then he'll think he got out because he had some influence over you. Apparently the biggest thing about him on the street, besides his connection to good drugs, is his way with women. Have him thinking he's a regular Don Juan."

Aiden smiled, "Basically make the man think he has me in his back pocket."

"Exactly." Shelby beamed at her, "It'll make my second delivery more potent. Do you think you can do that?"

"Pretend I'm interested in a man to get what I want?" Aiden scoffed while rolling her eyes, "No problem."

"I like you." Shelby said with a laugh, "If you ever want something better than CSI, you give me a call, we could use you UC."

"And leave working with some of the most interesting people in New York," Aiden laughed, "Never."

"He really is interesting." Shelby muttered more to herself than Aiden.

Grinning Aiden smacked her new friend on the back, "I meant the whole department, but feel free to share if you ever feel the need."

"I've got to get ready," Shelby said with a smile, "maybe some other time."

"I'll hold you to that!" Aiden called when Shelby ducked into their locker room.

* * *

Danny saw Aiden head for the exit and debated going with her. He changed his mind and followed Shelby's route to the locker room. He didn't at all care that Flack and Fellows were watching him.

"It never fails." Ben mused.

"What?" Flack was hardly blinking as he watched a man he'd perceived to be his friend not heed his advice.

"That woman," Ben laughed, "Like the rats in this city to scraps of food, men cling to her like she is their last hope for salvation."

"Whatever." Flack left without another word, he needed to get this woman out of his head. He sprinted down the hall Aiden had gone down hoping to catch her before she left.

Ben laughed to himself, "Case and point."

* * *

A female uniformed officer was standing in front of the locker room making sure no one interfered while Shelby got ready to go undercover.

"You can't go in there," she told Danny.

He smiled at her in a way that usually got him undivided attention. It worked. "I have some vital information that Ms. Winters will need before she goes out there."

"Well I mean," she stepped aside, "if it's pertains to the case."

"Oh it pertains." He walked into the change room and just took in the woman before him who was dressed from the waist down in an obvious club outfit.

"Damnit." She was standing in front of the mirror in her bra trying to properly adjust her wire so that it would be undetectable.

Stepping over to her he turned her so she was facing him and pulled the tape from where is sat, between her lips. Gently lining the wire down the middle of her stomach he taped it and adjust it so that it evened up with the lines in her body. She mutely just let him do it, unsure of what to say and thoroughly enjoying any type of touch she could get from him.

He passed her the shirt on the counter when he was sure the wire would be concealed, "Here."

She inhaled discreetly and accepted the shirt from him. "Just cause we've slept together twice doesn't mean we're dating," she said as she buttoned up the shirt, properly covering her wire, yet leaving enough skin to be tantalizing.

Raising an eyebrow he regarded her for a moment, which made her increasingly uncomfortable. This was the point where the guy protested and explained and tried to get her to reconsider dating him…or something close to that anyway.

Nodding he said something she didn't expect, "I know."

"You know?" She eyed him, "What do you mean you know?"

He handed her the coat she was going to wear and shrugged, "You said you didn't want picket fences, no commitment, I get it. I live it." He patted her hand, "Good luck tonight." He went to leave.

"Wait!" She reached out and grabbed his arm.

He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, "What?"

"You're not going to, you know, give me all sorts of reasons why I shouldn't risk my life, tell me to be safe and all that?"

"Nah. You strike me as pretty damn capable and you have this job for a reason." He leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Nab his ass." He smiled, "If anyone could it'd be you."

She watched the door swing shut behind him and groaned. This was NOT going the way it was supposed to, he was supposed to get all sappy and desperately want to be around her all the time. This flippant attitude was NOT the way it usually worked, what was with this guy? The more she was around him the more she wanted to be around him, he drove her crazy! She shook her head and jumped up and down a couple of times before putting on her shoes, tonight wasn't about Danny Messer, it was about Orlando Yates and she needed to focus on that.


	9. In Control

_She shook her head and jumped up and down a couple of times before putting on her shoes, tonight wasn't about Danny Messer, it was about Orlando Yates and she needed to focus on that._

* * *

Danny, Aiden and Flack sat in a big surveillance van, watching and listening as Shelby introduced herself in Yate's neighborhood.Her namewas Jessica today, and she was on a mission. Fellows and a few other NARCs were in another van, ready to leap into action should the situation warrant it.

"Winters, could you not find a sexier outfit? You look like a housewife," a male voice teased her over the radio.

"How many times have I told you, Mel? I don't want to know when I'm in your wet dreams," Shelby shot back

"You're too cold, Winters, too cold."

"What? My name didn't clue you in?" She slipped on a pair of sunglasses and both vans suddenly had video feed. "See through my eyes, boys?" she asked.

"It's all good, Shelby," Fellows voice came through. "Be careful."

"Careful's for cowards," she told him.

Aiden saw Flack flinch at that. He'd been a ball of nerves since they got out there. Danny, on the other hand, was cool as a cucumber, fascinated by everything. Neither he nor Aiden had ever been involved in an under cover operation before, so their curiosity and excitement overrode pretty much everything else.

Shelby tossed her now black hair (courtesy of a fantastic wig) over her shoulder and started a mental checklist of all the guys noticing her. She didn't want the ones making the comments, she was after bigger game than that. She wanted the ones who didn't need to say anything because women came to them. There, on the corner, there was one.

She put the sunglasses on top of her head. "Still see?" she asked without moving her lips.

"Still good," Fellows answered.

She locked eyes with the man who was quite obviously sizing her up, squared her shoulders, added a little more hip to her walk and made straight for him.

When she was about an arms length away, she held out her hand to him. "Jessica," she said.

He took a long drag from his cigarette, looking her over slowly, top to bottom and back again. Passing the cigarette to his friend, he took her hand and squeezed it hard, telling her in that one action that he was in control of this situation. "Rob," he answered. "You looking for work, baby?"

She smiled. "Not today. I'm looking for a fence."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, not letting go of her hand. "What kind of fence?"

"I'm buying, not selling," she told him.

"And what's your poison, baby?"

She pulled him into her and looked him square in the eye. She felt him stiffen against her and smiled. Who's in control now? She thought to herself. "I hear a guy named Yates has something that will tickle my fancy," she said in almost a whisper.

He took his cigarette back from his friend, took a drag and bent down and kissed her. She accepted the kiss, then blew his smoke back in his face. "If you can't help me, just say so," she said.

"I'll set up a meeting," he said. "Club 77, 10:00 tonight. Wear this," he told her, nodding at the outfit she had on. "I'll find you."

She eased away from him. "Good enough."

He still had her hand and pulled her back. "What's your market?" he wanted to know.

"Loyola. I whispered I might have something to sell and had a line up out my door," she smiled.

He nodded and finally let her go. She put her sunglasses back on and gave him one last smile before turning and walking away, allowing him a good look at rear end as his reward.

Aiden was loving every minute of this, especially watching Flack and Danny's reactions. Danny was mesmerized, all but drooling and Flack looked like he wanted to beat on Rob with a baseball bat.

"I hate when she goes UC," Flack mumbled.

"Can I get a ride?" Shelby's voice came over the radio.

Aiden clicked over. "You're closer to us. We're in the alley just a couple blocks to your right."

"Give me two minutes," Shelby answered. She turned the corner and saw the thrift shop she was after. She slipped in the door and headed for the back, grabbing a purse and a long black shawl on her way. When she was sure no one was watching, she slipped off the wig, shook out her hair, pulled it back into a ponytail, draped the shawl around her shoulders, dropped her sunglasses and wig into the purse and headed back out. She paid for the wig, sunglasses and purse at the front and left, all of 60 seconds later. She walked another block and turned right, down the alley where the van was waiting for her. She slid into the front seat and turned to smile at the trio in the back.

"Enjoying yourselves?" she asked.

"You make that look way too easy," Aiden told her.

Shelby just shrugged. "You ain't seen nothing yet." She unbuttoned the top of her shirt to turn off the tiny microphone taped to her chest. "Don, quit grumbling back there and get us back to HQ," she instructed.

Danny pushed Flack back in his seat and got into the driver's seat next to her. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as she buttoned her shirt back up. "That was hot," he said, starting the van.

"You think so?" she asked, not really trusting him.

"I'd do ya."

She grinned. "You already have."


	10. Initiating Contact

AN This chapter is souly going up because 'Aiden Burn' is so faithful in her reviews. We like Danny Messer a lot too...way more than we should, which is how this fic started to begin with! LoL We also like strong female leads, which is why Shelby is the way she is...she doesn't need a man, just wants one and damn I mean it's Danny after all...right? Hope you enjoy. :)

Sprite Sweetheart: We're glad you enjoyed this as well and hope the updates keep you interested...we're trying to wrap this story up soon...just waiting for the inspiration.

All right no more blabbering from us...read on. :)

* * *

"_I'd do ya."_

_She grinned. "You already have."_

* * *

That night at Club 77, Shelby was pacing the manager's office. He had agreed after a single dark threat from Ben to let the cops use his office as their headquarters that night. It had a glass wall that overlooked the club, perfect for surveillance. 

She had her black wig back on, secured tightly to her hair this time, in case anyone accidentally (or purposefully) tugged on it. Her button-down blouse was open low enough to reveal her ample cleavage, but not so low that the tiny microphone she was wearing between her breasts could be seen. Her pleated black skirt was dangerously short, and strappy sandals only served to amplify her already gorgeous legs. Danny couldn't help but estimate in his mind how long it would take him to get her out of that outfit. She glanced up at him and gave him a half smile as she fitted the tiny earpiece in her ear.

Flack's mood had not improved since that afternoon. He was growing more fidgety and anxious with every passing minute.

"Don, quit it. You're making me nervous," Shelby rebuked him.

Flack grumbled something incoherent and turned away from her, looking out the window to the club below.

"I think I see him," Ben said. "There, standing by the dance floor."

Flack nodded, he saw him too.

Danny walked over to Shelby who was strapping a small handgun onto the inside of her thigh.

"Care for a stress reliever after all this?" he asked as casually as he could manage.

"You sure are persistent, aren't you?" she asked without looking up.

"I'm afraid I might be addicted," he told her.

She looked up at him and he was surprised to see an intense sadness in her eyes. Even her smile was sad. "Thanks, but it'll have to wait. It's time to go."

She walked away and headed down the stairs. She would go out the back door and come back in the front door, so as to avoid any suspicion. She checked her mic and earpiece as she went. "Wired for sound?" she asked.

"Loud and clear," Ben answered her. "Be careful."

Danny and Aiden guessed this was a routine conversation for them and anticipated Shelby's answer: "Careful's for cowards."

Yates' posse were assembled around him, big burley guys and world weary, wary girls. Shelby's mark from earlier that day was there, scanning the crowd for her. When he finally saw her, he leaned into Yates and said something in his ear. Yates nodded and Rob left the group, headed for Shelby.

"Good to see you made it," Rob said in her ear as he put his arm around her waist.

"Business opportunity of a lifetime, I'd be a fool to pass it up," she answered.

"You weren't followed?" he asked.

She laughed. "I'm not even a blip on the radar yet, G. Don't worry about me."

"Good. Come on." He led her through the crowd towards Yates. His posse parted and Yates gave her the same long, slow looking over that she'd come to expect from his kind. Shelby could feel adrenaline beginning to pump through her system and she had to resist the urge to pick a fight with this guy. She was outnumbered, five to one, so it wouldn't be a fair fight. She hated humiliating more than one person at a time.

Blatantly ignoring the women who were giving her chilly stares, she sidled up to Yates. She smiled slyly at him and led him by the hand to the dance floor. As she pressed her body into his, she knew Flack was turning away from the window upstairs. She had no idea what Danny would be doing.

"Why are you here?" Yates asked her, already impressed with her brazen confidence.

"You know why," she answered.

"You ever dealt before?" he wanted to know.

"Grass and 'X' in high school in Jersey," she told him. "I'm in college now and it's not paying the bills."

"You're ambitious."

"So are you," she said, grinding down to the floor and back up again. "At least, that's what they tell me."

* * *

Flack watched Shelby grind down and grimaced as Yates watched her, visibly taking in every inch of her. He ran his hand over his face and started pacing. Danny snickered to himself and just watched her interact, fascinated how she used her sexuality to have the man immobilized in front of her, but still managed to look classier than any of the other girls in the club. 

Watching Danny lick his lips and smirk to himself was too much for Flack, "Do you need to do that?"

Aiden looked up from where her and Ben were listening to the conversation occurring between Yates and Shelby.

"Do what?" Danny cracked his neck and didn't take his eyes off of Shelby for a second.

Grabbing Danny's shoulder Flack propelled him around so they were looking at each other, "That, just, watching her like that."

"Isn't it up to us to watch the UC officer doing her job?"

"Not the way you were doing it."

Danny was amused and knew it was pissing his friend off, "It might be time for you to get over her Don, it was a long time ago."

Pointing his finger in Danny's face Flack fumed, "Do NOT tell me what to get over, you don't know shit about that woman."

Inhaling Danny raised an eyebrow, "I know she's a capable cop who knows how to do her job. I know that she's damn focused on her career and likes it that way." He got up in Flack's face and smiled, "And I know how to drive her so insane she's writhing."

Flack was gearing up to punch him when Aiden had, had enough, "Okay both of you stop it!" She stepped in between them, "You." She pointed at Danny, "Take your cocky attitude and go back to the window, with minimal comments." She glared him down till he turned with a shrug.

"Look at me Don." She took his arm and guided his head with her other hand so he was looking at her, "You are not doing her any good by acting like this. You need to get yourself together or I'm going to have to kick your ass out of this office do you hear me?"

He nodded at her, "Yeah."

"Good, go listen with Ben." She pushed him to the desk. Shaking her head she groaned, "It's like I'm running a freakin' day care."

* * *

Shelby heard a vague disturbance in her ear from upstairs, but effectively ignored it. She needed to stay focused – Yates was almost where she needed him. 

"So do I get a sample?" she asked him.

"Not till we strike a deal," he told her, his hands beginning to stroke her back.

"What's the offer?"

"70-30."

She scoffed and ground her hips into his a little harder.

"50-50 or I find someone else."

He frowned. "What, you think I need you?"

She shook her head. "No, I think you don't understand my market. Rich Catholics whose parents feed them allowances of $20,000 a week. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to find someone else who'd be all over that."

He put his hand around her neck and forced her head up so that she was looking him in the eye. She had to fight back the urge to break his arm, but she knew he was just testing her. She didn't flinch.

"Don't take me for a fool."

"I don't," she told him. "I came to you first, didn't I?"

He stared her down, trying to decide what to do. "60-40," he tried.

"No good," she said, holding firm.

He let her go with a smile and a nod. "Done. Meet me at the old foundry in the Bronx in two days. Rob will have the details."

She grabbed his hand. "A sample," she insisted.

He pulled a small bag from his pocket and passed it to her. "A down payment," he said, gripping her hand tightly.

She lifted the left side of her skirt and pulled out a wad of cash. "A pleasure," she murmured in his ear, putting the money into the front of his pants.

He looked down for a moment then back up at her, "Two days." He repeated still holding onto her hand.

Slipping her fingers from out of his grip she smiled at him, "Old foundry in the Bronx, I won't forget. You won't regret this."

"I better not." With that he was gone, there was no point in being around her any longer she'd gotten what she wanted from him and he was jonesin' for one of the women he had left at his table.

"I'm getting a cab." Shelby said to the bouncer and also for the benefit of everyone up in the managers office. She really didn't want to have to share a van with Don and Danny. Not now. She had to process what had just happened between her and Yates, plus, she squeezed the bag she had just 'purchased' she wanted to be sure she had the right product.

Ben started packing up their equipment, "She'll meet us at the precinct, you guys coming?"

Aiden answered for her and Danny, "Yeah we'll be there, we'll take our own cab."

"Why…" Danny started to protest as she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door.

"See you there!" She called over her shoulder as she dragged her perplexed partner out the back of the building.

"That woman is…" Ben was at a loss of words.

"An enigma." Flack offered, "Yeah I've often thought so. You need help with all that?" He indicated the equipment then started helping to pack it up without question. This was turning into one of the worst weeks he could remember, short of the one when Shelby had left him.


	11. Words of Wisdom, the Enigma Speaks

AN Glad that this story is being enjoyed, we're hopefully going to bring it to a close soon, but not for a few more chapters.

Aiden Burn - You're right Shelby should be nicer to Flack, although after five years he really should be over her don't you think ;)

Sprite Sweetheart - Thank you for enjoying our writing, here is another update as per your request. :)

PS- The language gets a bit more explicit in this chapter...apparently Aiden swears when she's exasperated. lol

* * *

"_That woman is…" Ben was at a loss of words._

"_An enigma." Flack offered, "Yeah I've often thought so. You need help with all that?" He indicated the equipment then started helping to pack it up without question. This was turning into one of the worst weeks he could remember, short of the one when Shelby had left him._

* * *

"What the hell was that about?" Danny asked once him and Aiden were sitting in a cab on the way to the precinct. 

"Do you actually like this girl or are you just dickin' her around for the fun of it? Cause if you are or aren't I don't care, but do you think for two seconds you could give a flying fuck about what this MAY be doing to Flack? I thought the man was your friend." Aiden spat it out in one breath, she'd been wanting to lace into him all day.

"I…" He stopped and cleared his throat, "He is my friend."

"Okay then could you tone down the, 'I-get-to-bone' your ex-girlfriend please. I don't want to work with a bitchy Flack and an 'I'm-the-man' Danny, it's a royal pain in the ass." She sounded completely exasperated.

There were a lot of words running through his mind at that moment. Did he actually like Shelby? Yeah probably, no he did, well at least as much as you can like someone you hardly know yet have an insane connection to. He inhaled slowly as the cab pulled up to a stoplight, "I'm sorry." He finally said.

She smacked him with a smile, "Don't be sorry just don't do it again. If I wanted to work DayCare I'd do it…got it?"

He nodded slowly, "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

* * *

Flack was on edge, well he had been all night, now he was really on edge. He didn't think he could take another minute of Danny swaggering around Shelby like some animal claiming his prize. He'd warned Danny away from Shelby for Danny's own good, but also because Danny had been known to break a heart or two in his time. Flack ran his hand over his face, he really needed a vacation. 

Shelby was still wearing her outfit as she debriefed the chief. She tossed the packet of white powder to Flack when she saw him, "Can you get Danny or Aiden to run trace on this?"

He nodded, he'd be civil if it killed him, "Yeah."

"Trace did I hear trace? I can do that." Danny's voice grated on Flack's nerves, especially the reaction he saw Shelby try to hide.

"What about arresting the shithead?" Aiden asked.

"You and Flack can do that, you're itching for excitement aren't you?" Danny asked with a twinkle in his eye. He took thebag from Flack and reached over to shake Shelby's hand, "Good job tonight." He said sincerely, "Catch you guys later." With a wink to Aiden he was gone.

"So, um." Flack didn't know what to say.

Ben took charge, "I'll get everyone rounded up, meet you two at the car. I left one there to make sure Yates doesn't take off, we really should make a move soon." He put a hand on Shelby's shoulder, "Go home and get some rest."

She waved him away, "You are really enjoying rubbing my own rule in my face aren't you?"

"Whenever I can." He laughed and left.

"Well I'm gonna go change, this probably comes a shock to you, but this outfit is hardly comfortable." Shelby walked to the door, "Don't have too much fun arresting his ass." She waved and was gone.

"You okay?" Aiden asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"You, sure?"

"Definitely, why do you ask?"

"You haven't blinked since Danny left."

"Don't we have to arrest somebody?" Flack sped by her, "Come on."

She rolled her eyes, "Why me? I asked Mac if I could work with Stella more, but no…" She slammed through the door, "I gotta work with Pheromone Messer and Drama Queen Flack…damnit." Officers could hear her muttering all the way down the hall.

* * *

Shelby pulled up her comfortable, well worn, jeans and put her hair in a messy ponytail. 

"You know if you go out in public like that you might draw attention to yourself." He was leaning against the door with that damn smirk of his, "Not that you don't anyway."

She sighed, "I was getting to the shirt." She said as she grabbed her blouse and started buttoning it, "I thought you were processing trace."

"I was, Chad was here for something else so I sent it back to the lab with him."

"Good, well I've been ordered home so…" She went to step by him.

"I'm meeting up with Mac in a few minutes, he's curious about what's gone down so far…"

"Mac?"

"Lead CSI."

"Oh, well, um…" She cleared her throat.

"Yeah?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I, should go home." She was waiting for him to ask her or our suggest something at least.

He just nodded and leaned forward to sniff her, "You should have a shower too, you smell like over priced cologne." He stepped aside and held the door open.

She smacked him, "Shut up."

"Get some rest," He licked his lips, "You did an amazing job tonight."

"Thanks," She smiled demurely glad to know she still had some control, "I'm just good." She walked by him.

"I know."

She had to pretend she didn't hear him, so she kept walking. If she turned around she was afraid she'd pull him into the locker room and show him how good she really was. Damn him for…well, being him.

* * *

Flack and Aiden rode in silence back to Club 77. As they sat outside, waiting for Yates to come out, Aiden finally decided to say something. 

"I told him off."

"Sorry?" Flack asked, lost in his own reverie.

"Danny, I told him off for you," she elaborated.

"You didn't have to."

"Yes, I did. He was being an ass and needed to hear it from someone not emotionally involved."

"Thanks," he said sincerely. It was good to know someone was on his side.

After a few more minutes of silence, Aiden asked, "So what is it about her? Messer can't get enough of her, you can't get over her…Is she that good in bed?"

Flack couldn't help but laugh at that.

"No really, I mean – what does she have that I don't? I've never had guys this worked up over me," she said.

"That you know of," he told her with a grin.

"Oh what, you know of some?" she laughed.

"You honestly mean to tell me that you don't notice the guys keeling over in your wake every time you walk through a room?" he asked.

"Keeling over in my wake?" she said, incredulous. "Come on, Flack, that's dramatic even for you!"

"The only difference between you and Shelby is that she knows exactly the kind of power she has over guys."

"She's pretty damn good, isn't she?"

"Just goes to show – if you're gonna play with fire, you better expect to get burned."

"Hey, that's my line!" Aiden protested with a grin. "Anyway, she's obviously not your type."

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. You two fight without even saying anything to each other. That'd get exhausting after a while. You need someone you can come home to, who'll get you your slippers and have supper ready. She'd never do that."

Flack sighed, defeated. "Then how come I can't get her out of my head?"

Aiden narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't make me kiss you to get over this girl."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Oh really? Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea…"

"That was a threat, not an offer," she grinned.

"Women! I just can't win, can I?" he threw up his hands in mock exasperation.

"Sure you can. Just stop aiming so high!"

"Ouch – you're killing me here, Burn," he said, with a dramatic clutch to his heart.

"Ah, take your medicine. We've got an arrest to make."


	12. Plan Into Action

AN Sorry it took a bit for this to get posted, we're just working on the end...hope this holds you're interest while we get there...thanks again for all the support!

* * *

"_Ah, take your medicine. We've got an arrest to make."_

* * *

She was on her second cup of coffee and desperately trying to read a book when the phone rang. She looked at the clock, it blinked 1:00 at her, she stared curiously at the phone before picking it up, "Hello?"

"Adrenaline keeping you awake, or are you drinking caffeine?"

Her heart should NOT be pumping like this at the sound of his voice, but it was, "A mix of both if you must know."

"Hmm."

"Hmm what?"

"Just figuring out if you are trying to read a book or watch TV."

She stood up and looked around her apartment, "Where are you?"

He chuckled, "At a diner three blocks from your house."

"How did you…"

"Just a guess, it's usually what I do after an intense case. Feel like having some worse coffee, under florescent lights with an insomniac CSI?"

No, no she didn't. It was a bad idea, "Sure I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Great." He hung up.

She stared at the phone in her hand then turned it off. What was she doing? This was stupid. It was bad enough that she slept with him twice, now she was going to have coffee with the guy, worse things could happen with this. She could get to know him, she could genuinely like him, she could want more than just sex from him, and that was bad.

* * *

Flack and Aiden got out of their car and walked towards Yates, who was still surrounded by his posse. 

"Orlando Yates?" Flack asked, flashing his badge.

"Yeah, that's me," Yates said, sizing up Flack and Aiden in a single glance.

"We need to talk," Flack said.

"So talk," Yates challenged, looking at Aiden rather than Flack. His posse was already starting to raise themselves up and look bigger and more threatening than usual.

"Downtown, big boy," Aiden told him with a smile. "Let's take a ride."

Yates held his hand up to hold his people back from starting a scene and smiled back at Aiden. "Only if you promise you'll ride with me," he said.

She nodded. "I promise."

Flack gave her a queer look, but walked Yates over to their vehicle and put him in the back seat.

In the interrogation room, Aiden couldn't stop staring at Yates. She would look at him and then look away again, as if she were – was she flirting with this guy? Flack could hardly believe his eyes.

"So, Yates, where were you two days ago?" Flack asked, trying to ignore Aiden.

"With my friends," Yates answered him, not averting his gaze from Aiden.

"And are you friends with anyone by the name of Mike Kortanze?" Flack prodded.

"Should I be?"

"We found your prints on a bag of diamond heroin in his pocket."

"You arresting me for something?"

"Murder, quite possibly."

"Oh, come on, Flack. Does this guy look like a murderer to you?" Aiden finally piped up.

"Yeah, actually, he does," Flack answered, a little peeved that she hadn't discussed the good-cop, bad-cop shtick with him beforehand.

"There has to be a perfectly good explanation," Aiden said. "Go ahead, Orlando."

Yates smiled a winning smile at her and leaned forward, his hand almost brushing against Aiden's on the table. "There is. I may have handled some diamond heroin recently. Some sleazeball pusher was trying to get me to buy it off of him. Name might have been Mike – I don't remember. I beat the shit out of him and sent him on his way."

"But you didn't kill him," Flack said.

"Of course I didn't kill him," Yates said, still refusing to look at Flack. "I'm a lover, not a fighter."

Aiden smiled and blushed.

"You beat the crap out of him," Flack said. "You call that loving?"

"It was tough love. He needed to learn a lesson," Yates told him, easing back in his chair, but leaving his hand where it was. "You need anything else from me, or can I leave now?"

"Flack, we don't have enough…" Aiden started.

Flack glared at her. "Can I talk to you a minute?" he asked.

The got up and left the room, but Aiden deliberately left the door open a crack.

"You could have warned me," he hissed at her.

"But your reactions wouldn't have been as good," she whispered back. "You can't keep him here because of one fingerprint on a bag of heroin," she said, loud enough for Yates to hear.

"I've held losers like him for less," Flack answered, reluctantly following her lead.

"Come on, Flack, we can't prove anything!"

"Just because you have a crush on the guy doesn't make him less guilty!"

"I do not have a crush on him!" she protested.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm gonna go get a warrant for his arrest."

Aiden grabbed his arm. "You know you can't do that – not yet. We need more."

Flack shook her off. "Fine. I'll give you a day. But if this guy takes off, it's on your head."

They went back into the room together, Flack looking angry and Aiden looking kind of excited. She went and sat down next to him.

"Orlando, I need for you to promise me you'll stick around town for a while. We need to process some more evidence to see if we can try to clear you of all this. I need to know I can get a hold of you – I might have more questions to ask."

Yates' smile was sickly sweet. "Whatever you say, darling. If you can get me out of this mess, I'll do anything you ask."

Flack was sick of this. He threw Yates' jacket at him. "Get out of here. I swear to god, if you go anywhere, there will be hell to pay."

Yates just smiled, took his jacket, gave one last meaningful look to Aiden and left the room.

Aiden smiled to herself, quite pleased with her performance.

"Shelby put you up to that?" Flack asked her, still not entirely amused.

"Oh come on, stop being such baby," Aiden laughed.

"You're killing me, Burns."

"You said that already tonight. And if I'm really killing you, then why won't you just die?" she mocked.

"I'm too good looking, that's the trouble," he finally grinned. "You owe me a martini for this."

"Shaken, not stirred?" she asked, flipping her hair and batting her eyelashes.

"I thought you had the hots for Orlando," he said, getting up to leave the room.

"Oh, but I do," she said, getting up to follow him.

"Don't make me kiss you to get over him. And that is an offer."


	13. Insomniacs Unite

AN Okay we gotta work on the next chapter, it's almost done though so you shouldn't have to wait too long. The whole Flack/Aiden thing kinda came out of nowhere but it seems to work so we'll go with it. Glad you guys are still enjoying it

* * *

"_Don't make me kiss you to get over him. And that is an offer."_

* * *

He had a paper in front of him and was talking to the waitress when Shelby arrived. He looked over at her and smiled. She was still wearing her favorite jeans and an old university sweater, scarily enough he found this sexier than what she had on earlier. What was he doing with this woman anyway? 

"Do you want anything?" He asked when she'd sat down.

"Just coffee is fine." The waitress nodded and left.

"So." Shelby said once the waitress had gone. "You're an insomniac?" She couldn't believe she didn't have a clue what to say to him.

"Sometimes. Usually when my mind's going crazy with a case. Plus, Aiden and Flack are interrogating Yates now, so I can't sleep."

"How did you the arrest go?"

"Easy as pie, apparently. Schmoozed Aiden immediately. Not quite sure how they're gonna let him go the way you want. Our evidence is pretty strong."

Shelby smiled, "You know that stunning Latina is more than just a pretty face."

"No argument here, she can hold her own."

"I'm sure she'll think of something."

"What do you know that I don't?"

"Plenty." Shelby leaned on the table, "Is she calling you when it's done?"

He leaned on the table to meet her stare, "Why else do you think I would invite you here?"

She could feel his breath on her skin, she had to move back. "I don't know, to put the moves on me maybe?"

He laughed out of genuine amusement, "You put the moves on me first Shelby, I'd hate to take the reigns from you now."

"What makes you think I have control?" With him sitting there looking all confident and stuff it was making her randy with ideas and driving her nuts cause she couldn't control it.

"Just cause we've slept together twice doesn't mean we're dating." He mimicked her from earlier that evening, "You always have control, don't you? Isn't that why you came on to me at O'Maley's?"

"I already told you why I talked to you that night, don't you remember?"

He smirked, "Cause I'm hot and you were horny, yeah I remember. I also know there were way more attractive guys there, who weren't cops. Randomly picking me. I don't buy it."

She sighed and just gave in, why not tell him? It's not like it was a big deal right? "You walked in and didn't even notice the three women who waved at you. You ordered your drink and just stared at it, you were just so pensive it intrigued me, alright? I just took a stab in the dark that you were a cop."

"Pensive? Me?"

"Yeah, and…" She laughed, "You are hot."

"Pensive and hot huh." He put his fingers to his lips as if in thought. Just then the waitress returned with their coffees and Danny's food.

"How can you eat now?" She asked looking in disgust at the greasy food on his plate.

"I'm not, I'll be right back." He stood, picked up the plate and headed over to a back booth. Shelby watched in fascination as he placed it down in front of an old disheveled man.

The man looked up with a smile, "You trying to make me fat Messer?"

Danny laughed, "You're welcome Pops." When he returned to his seat he regarded Shelby's expression with quiet amusement.

She finally spoke, "Danny Messer, CSI, humanitarian and all around good guy."

As if ignoring her glowing review Danny explained, "Pops and I have a deal, his PO calls me once a week to tell me if he's doing his job, the legitimate one, if he is then I buy him dinner."

"You, sir, are a sweetheart."

"Nah," He said with a laugh, "Just sick of finding his prints and epithelials at crime scenes."

"You're full of shit Messer, you know you miss me," Pops called out.

"I also can't stand that he eavesdrops on my conversations."

"Maybe your beautiful friend would rather speak with me, you've got to be insanely boring."

"Maybe you would like to eat your food and shut up."

"Can't take the competition can you Messer?"

"Not from you Pops."

Shelby bust out laughing, "You're a mystery."

"Keeps you interested doesn't it?"

"More like I couldn't sleep and I really want to know what Aiden says when she calls you."

"Ouch." He clutched his chest, "You wound me."

Before she could retort his phone rang, "Messer…yeah how did it go…seriously…you didn't…she did?" He eyed Shelby who tried to look as innocent as possible. "Perfect…okay…yeah Chad's got the results…I talked to Mac…okay…uh yeah I'll tell her…right…see you later."

"So did it work?"

"You told Aiden to flirt with Yates?"

She couldn't read his expression and from experience took a stab at what he may have meant. "Listen, I needed him to remain cocky and Aiden is a perfectly capable woman who…"

Danny started laughing, "You're corrupting my partner, that's fucking brilliant!"

"You're not pissed?" Why couldn't he just once do what she expected him to do?

"Are you kidding? I wish I could have seen it. Aiden in action, it would have been hilarious."

"I don't get you Danny."

"What's not to get? I'm a workaholic, antisocial, insomniac."

"So…" Shelby leaned forward again, "If you're antisocial why did you keep talking to me at O'Maley's?"

He slowly smiled and took a sip of his coffee, "Cause you're hot and I'm always horny."

Shelby threw her head back and laughed. This is guy was way too much fun to be around.

An hour later Danny was leaning on the door of Shelby's cab with a smile, "Did I mention you kicked ass tonight?"

"Once our twice yeah." She looked up at him, "Are you…" She couldn't bring herself to ask him over, it probably wasn't a good idea, but damn she really wanted to.

"I'm going to go back to the lab and process some more of the evidence with Aiden." He hadn't planned on it, but for some reason he really wanted this woman to know he was interested in more than just sex with her. Although for the life of him he couldn't figure out why he cared. "It's been a pleasure Shelby," He leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Have a good night."

She just stared at him and nodded, with a wink he shut the door and smacked the hood so the cabbie would go. Once her cab turned the corner he hailed a cab of his own. He needed to stop off at his place before he even tried to go back to the lab.

* * *

The cold water hit his back like ice pellets. It actually made him groan. He had been fighting the urge to invite himself over to Shelby's the whole night. Every time she laughed, smiled or, mercy, licked the rim of her coffee cup before taking a sip. She just drove him insane. The shower was quick and freezing, but what he needed or he was never getting any work done. When he got to work he went straight to the bag of heroin Shelby had got from Yates and started doing tests on it.

* * *

Shelby slipped under the corners with a shiver. The cold water still glistening on her skin, if it works for men she needed to at least give it a try. She sighed, "Sleep damnit." 


	14. Addicted

AN So here it is - the long awaited Chapter 14. Thanks for all the reviews - it makes writing the story that much more fun! Stay tuned for 'the talk' but don't expect any white picket fences...

* * *

_"Sleep, dammit."_

* * *

Shelby and Danny didn't get to see much of each other after that – Shelby practically lived at NARC and Danny was assigned to three more cases on top of Operation K-Car, so he hardly left the lab even to go home and sleep. Two days breezed by and they hadn't even talked on the phone.

Shelby was pouring through the surveillance files on Yates since he'd been brought in for questioning. It hadn't phased him. He hadn't even changed his patterns. She was glad. He would be way easier to manipulate if he didn't expect anything.

She didn't notice her partner, Ben, leaning on the door frame of the small office, so she startled at his voice. "You never cease to amaze me, Winters," he said.

"Geez, Ben. You scared me."

"Sorry. I was just trying to tell you how impressed I was that you're still able to focus so completely on this case even while you're so smitten with this CSI."

"What are you talking about? I'm not 'smitten.' What an old folk word," she said, trying to ignore him.

"Well, whatever. You're something all right. This guy's more than your usual one night stand."

She gave him a dirty look. "Don't start with me. I'm trying to concentrate."

He shrugged. "I'm just saying…"

"So what? I'm not allowed to like anyone?" She didn't know why she was getting so defensive about this.

"I thought you didn't want me to start with you."

"Must you always push my buttons like this?"

"Yes. We have a big-brother-little-sister relationship, remember? At least, that's what you keep telling my wife."

She sighed. "Look, I don't know what I'm thinking about this guy yet, okay? I haven't seen or talked to him for two days. That might have been the end of it for all I know. If so, fine. If not – well, that would be better, I guess."

"Aha, so you are smitten!"

"Shut up. I don't know why I tell you anything."

"Oh, suck it up, princess. You always get like this when you work too hard. Maybe this guy is good for you – give you something else to focus on once in a while."

"I told you, I want to be an old maid with cats, remember?"

"I thought you just said it would be better…"

"I know what I said. I'm having completely conflicting, equally important thoughts about all this right now. Let me focus on this case so I don't have to think about it anymore."

Ben threw up his hands in surrender. "Sure, whatever you say, boss lady."

"And don't call me boss lady."

Ben walked away, shaking his head. "Sure are touchy when you're smitten."

"I heard that!"

* * *

Danny had high hopes that the more he worked the easier it was going to be to get Shelby off of his mind, but this wasn't the case. Fortunately, his thoughts never compromised his work, merely took over where cases left off. 

He reasoned that except for their initial meeting he had done enough instigating. Besides, she had been quite emphatic about her need for space and he usually agreed with that. Why did this feel different? He shook his head, if she couldn't commit to someone like Don Flack, why would he be any different?

"That microscope teaching you the secrets of the universe?"

His reverie was broken. He slid his glasses from their perch on his forehead back down to his nose, "Fiber is trilobal."

Stella leaned on the table and looked up at him, "Trunk of a car then, the body was obviously dumped."

"Rigor wasn't fixed and there wasn't a blood pool at the scene, we knew he was dumped." Danny pointed out.

"Right, but at least now we know there's a trunk out there with our vic's blood in it."

"Since when have you been an optimist?" He asked her with a sidelong glance.

"Since it took you ten minutes to see that a fiber was trilobal."

He grimaced, she had noticed his change in demeanor, "Sorry, I spaced out."

Yeah, that sounded like a good enough excuse.

"So this Shelby Winters, is she really all she's cracked up to be?"

"What?" He was not in the mood to talk about Shelby, it made him think about the fact that he hadn't seen her in three days. He didn't want to be reminded.

"The NARC on the Orlando Yates case. Is she as good undercover as Aiden makes her sound?"

Oh, she meant work Shelby! He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Yeah she's good. Impeccable actually." In more ways than one.

Stella smiled and patted his arm, "I hear you and Flack have similar taste about this girl."

He should have known Stella would have had a comment about that, "Don't believe everything you hear." He said defensively.

"I don't Danny, but your face is speaking volumes."

"Don't we have a car to find?"

He really, really didn't want to talk about Shelby with anyone, mainly because he had no idea what to say about her. The sex was amazing, her smile drove him crazy and he found himself getting more and more addicted to her every time he was around her.


	15. The Talk

AN Oki-dokie. You may not like this chapter much because it still doesn't solve anything but hey - at least we're getting somewhere. Don't worry, we won't drag this on much longer...we hope!

* * *

_He really, really didn't want to talk about Shelby with anyone, mainly because he had no idea what to say about her. The sex was amazing, her smile drove him crazy and he found himself getting more and more addicted to her every time he was around her._

* * *

When he finally made it home later that night he was desperately in need of relaxation. He contemplated going to O'Maley's but really didn't feel like being around people. So he opted for a beer and his comfortable couch. He changed into an undershirt and tearaways. He had just kicked his feet up when the doorbell rang.

Shelby shifted from one foot to the other. What was she doing here? The fact that she had actually called Aiden for Danny's address was bad enough, why did she have to go there?

The stunned look on his face reiterated her fear so she backed up, "I'm sorry, I probably should have called first." She'd never seen him dressed so casually before. She really liked it.

He recovered quickly, "And miss the look on my face? No you shouldn't have." He gave her that smirk she craved and licked his lips.

She wanted to say something witty, maybe engage him in conversation like that night at the diner, but she could think of nothing. All she could do was snake her arms around his waist and kick the door shut with her foot, "Please don't ask me why I'm here."

He looked down at her, "Okay." He said hoarsely. He really didn't care why she was there, it was better than what he had planned.

Her lips found his and she got lost. Three days, she hadn't been around him in three days and she'd turned into a raving lunatic. He pulled her legs up around his waist and backed up to sit down on his couch. She was intoxicating him to the point that he would never find his room.

She anchored herself around his hips and pulled her mouth away, "You're like a habit I don't want to break."

"So don't." He said against her mouth pulling her closer to him again.

They took their time that night, working their way through his apartment and finally into the bedroom.

After it was over and they'd lain there a while, she tried to move out of his arms but he stopped her. "Where are you going?" He asked softly near the base of her neck.

She closed her eyes and licked her lips, "Following your lead." She said, referring to his leaving her bed the last time.

He chuckled against her skin, "Unless I'm going undercover tomorrow and nobody told me, you can't use that excuse."

She turned so she was facing him, "You mean that really was the reason?"

Smiling at her lazily with his eyes half closed he squeezed her tightly around the waist. "I came to you that night remember? If I was into leaving you without reason I would have done it the first night."

"Good point." She turned around and let him settle into the curves of her body again.

"Yeah I know," He placed a kiss on her shoulder, "I'm full of them."

She lay there in his arms listening to him breathe. She was more comfortable than she had ever been before and it scared her. What did she do when she was scared? She ran. The difference this time was that she didn't want to dive into another pair of arms and she could vividly picture the look on Danny's face when she finally let him go.

It haunted her and it hadn't even happened yet. However the alternative wasn't an option, it couldn't be.

She suppressed a sigh and tried to relax, but it was too late.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" she asked back.

"You're tense. That usually means you're either crying and trying not to or you have to tell me something that you don't think I'll want to hear."

"What? You an expert on body language now?"

"I'm a CSI, remember?"

She rolled on to her back and stared at the ceiling. "I just don't know what to make of…this. Why I keep coming back, why I can't just walk away."

"You want to walk away?" he asked, hoping the answer would be no.

She turned her head to look at him. "No. But I feel like I should."

"Why?"

"I just…this was supposed to just be another game. I can't for the life of me figure out when the game stopped."

"If it makes you feel any better, I've been wondering the same thing."

She frowned. "Actually, that makes me feel worse."

He furrowed his brow at her. "Why worse?"

"Because you can't make the decision for me."

"I see." He propped himself up on his elbow so he could look at her better. "I don't know, Shelby. What do you want?"

She sighed. "I want to avoid talking about this."

"How much longer do you figure we can avoid it?"

She shrugged. "I'm already having trouble. Another night like this and I might implode."

"Hmm. That would be unfortunate."

"I haven't been in an honest-to-god relationship in five years."

"Since Don."

"Yeah, since Don. I don't think I'm very good at them."

"Are you sure you're picking the right benchmark?"

"Hell if I know. All I know is that I'm a really good NARC. Everything else is up in the air as far as I'm concerned."

"I think you're a pretty good person."

She scoffed. "You hardly know me."

He scoffed back. "I've paid more attention to you than you think, you know."

She smiled sadly. "I'm just – I'm so used to being lonely. Part of me likes that emptiness I feel every time you leave. It's familiar somehow."

"I'm not asking you to marry me."

"No? And what is it that _you_ want, Danny?" she asked.

He scratched the back of his neck and licked his lips. "I dunno, I just want to be with you, I guess. However that pans out doesn't matter one way or the other to me."

"You are way too easy going."

"That's a bad thing?"

She sat up so she could look at him better. "No. It's just strange to me, that's all. Don was always so – possessive. I felt like I couldn't do anything without checking with him first."

"Is that why you cheated on him?"

Shelby started. She hadn't expected that. "How did you know I cheated on him?"

Danny just shrugged. "Doesn't take a genius. I know Don pretty well and you'd have to hurt him pretty bad for him to react to you the way he does. And when he warned me off you, I knew for sure."

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Nah. You don't cage a wild bird. Just doesn't work. My mom was a lot like you – a real free-spirit. You just sort of had to learn to let her be."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Telling me everything I want to hear."

Danny sat up and pulled her into his arms. "Look, Shelby, I really like you. But this whole 'thing' – whatever it is – is totally up to you. I mean, if you want to walk away, I won't like it, but I'll let you. And if you want to stay, that's cool too."

She kissed him, soft and deep. "Let me think about it," she said onto his mouth.

He just nodded and kissed her again.


	16. Undercover Again

AN Alrighty then... Finally starting to get somewhere here! NeverMind was on a roll yesterday and hammered this out. Lots of questions to answer but a good set-up for an appropriate ending to the story. Just wait and see!_

* * *

_ _She kissed him, soft and deep. "Let me think about it," she said onto his mouth._

_He just nodded and kissed her again._

* * *

Danny silently helped Shelby get ready to meet Orlando Yates for the second time. He gently taped the microphone to her chest and stomach and watched as she slipped into the blouse she would be wearing. After the past day and a half, he didn't like the thought of her risking her life so much anymore. Not that they had come to any conclusions – she just hadn't left his place for two nights and he was way more attached than he'd ever admit. 

Shelby couldn't look at him. Her usual thrill of going undercover was nowhere to be found. The adrenaline that usually kicked in right about now was remarkably absent and she had a funny feeling it had everything to do with how comfortable she had got with him. Taking risks like this just wasn't as appealing when you actually had something to lose. Heck, this was one of the reasons she'd stopped letting Ben go undercover.

"You okay?" Danny asked her.

She just nodded. "Yeah. Give me a minute, kay?"

He nodded and left the room, an uncomfortable feeling growing in his gut. It was hard to adjust to her abrupt changes from personal to professional.

Flack met Danny's eye when he came out of the locker room and in that instant, knew his friend had fallen in love with Shelby. He knew that look all too well – it had been on his own face many times before. Maybe now Danny would understand why he'd told him to be careful.

After Danny had left, Shelby took a fewlong, deepbreaths to try to help herself focus. In her head, she was kicking herself. 'Way to go, Winters, you've done it again. You can't do this to someone. You can't ask them to be okay with what you do. It's just not fair.'

She put her hands in her face and tried desperately to push the thoughts away. She started visualizing her pending conversation with Yates and was surprised at how quickly thoughts of Danny vanished. More evidence that this was what she was born to do.

When she came out of the locker room, everyone could tell that she had her game face on. Her eyes were hard and cold and her walk crisp and deliberate. Without a word, Ben handed her a roll of cash and her earpiece. He knew her routine.

Danny started to follow them out to the van, but Shelby stopped him. "Where are you going?" she asked, even her voice had a chilly edge to it.

"With you," he answered.

"No you're not."

"Why not?"

"Because I said," was all she would say, giving him a hard look before turning and walking away.

Flack shrugged at Danny before following Shelby out. "I warned you," he said.

Danny hadn't expected that. Especially not after she had been so vulnerable with him the last few days.

"Hey, you okay?" Aiden asked him.

He furrowed his brow. "I don't know."

"You're falling for her, aren't you?"

Danny turned to look at his friend. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah," she grinned.

"It's just weird, you know – how fast she switches like that."

"Undercover is a hard life," she observed.

Danny just nodded. Shelby had hinted many times about what life was really like for her – and how much easier it was to do her job well when she was unattached. The uncomfortable feeling started to grow.

Shelby was fully in her zone, oblivious to everything but her end goal. The van ride to the Bronx was completely silent untilthey pulled to a stop a few blocks away from the old foundry.

"Something's wrong," Shelby said, her blue eyes dark.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked her.

"I don't know. I just feel it in my gut," she answered, carefully affixing her earpiece in her ear and tugging on her wig to make sure it was secure.

Don wanted to tell her not to go, that this could wait. They could find another way to infiltrate the cartel, but he knew it wouldn't be any use. Shelby was as stubborn as they came and there would be no dissuading her, even if she did feel as though something were wrong.

She left the van and started walking, pulling her trendy bomber-length trench coat tightly around her. This was not an unusual operation. She'd done it a million times before. But she'd never felt like this before. Her fight or flight instincts were raging in her body and it took all her effort to try to keep them in check. She cursed Danny under her breath and kept moving towards her target.

"Can you hear me okay?" she asked.

"Loud and clear. Be careful," Ben told her.

She didn't answer him this time, and even Ben started to worry.

Yates and his posse were waiting for her. She fixed a sly smile on her face and strode confidently towards him. She could hear the SWAT team taking their positions through her earpiece.

"You made it," Yates said. "I was starting to think you were gonna leave me hanging." He waved his hand over three large bags full of smaller baggies of cut heroin. "Your merchandise."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What's going on here?" she asked.

"What is she doing?" Flack asked Ben back in the van. Ben shook his head and motioned for Don to keep quiet.

Yates chuckled. "Just a regular, everyday sale from a distributor to a dealer."

She shook her head. "No. Something's wrong. What is this, some kind of set up?"

Yates was frowning now. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"This is a sting operation, isn't it? You're not a dealer, you're a cop!"

"Shelby! What in god's name are you doing?" Ben demanded.

"You crazy bitch! What the hell is wrong with you?" Yates hissed.

"No. I'm outta here," she said, turning abruptly on her heel and starting to walk away.

"What the..? Fuck that – don't let her leave!" Yates yelled at his crew.

Shelby quickly broke the heels off her shoes and started running. What was she doing? This plan had sort of come out of nowhere. Maybe she should have told someone about it before barreling in like this…

The clamor in her earpiece increased as she raced out of the old building. Suddenly she felt a hot flash of fire in her arm and the distinct urge to drop to the ground. She fought it off and kept running, the chaos of noise in her ear and around her blending into a blur in her head. She was running down the street, her hand tightly squeezing her arm as warm blood flowed through her fingers, dropping to the ground and leaving a sickly trail behind her.

Suddenly, she felt arms grab her around the waist and haul her to the ground. "Stop running," a familiar voice said in her ear. "You'll only make it bleed worse."

Danny was already ripping his shirt apart to make a tourniquet for her. She looked at him as though she was seeing him for the first time. Where was she? He tied the strip tightly around her upper arm and pulled out a small flashlight which he shone in each of her eyes. She didn't blink.

"You're in shock," he told her. Of course she was. She knew that, why was he telling her? "Don, is the ambulance here?"

Don? She knew a Don. Been in love with a Don once. She smiled to herself. Why was her head so loud? She cupped her hand over the offending ear.

"Here," Danny said softly, pulling her hand away and gently taking the earpiece out. That was better.

She looked down at her good hand, which didn't look so good because it was covered in her own blood. She looked up at Danny with a question in her eyes.

"You're okay. Let's get you over to the ambulance," he said, as he and Flack helped her to her feet.

As soon as the paramedics laid her down on the stretcher, the shock wore off. She cried out as pain seared through her entire body.

"Shh, it's okay," Danny told her, gently stroking her hair.

One of the paramedics flicked a syringe to get rid of air bubbles and injected her with a clear fluid. She cried out once more when her arm was jolted as they loaded her into the ambulance and then she passed out. She didn't hear the loud explosion back at the foundry.


	17. Aftermath

AN Okay, please please don't be angry! This isn't the end of it, we swear! Dream is working on the Epilogue tonight yet so don't panic! Hold off with the yelling until we get that up, okay? LOL

_

* * *

One of the paramedics flicked a syringe to get rid of air bubbles and injected her with a clear fluid. She cried out once more when her arm was jolted as they loaded her into the ambulance and then she passed out. She didn't hear the explosion back at the foundry.

* * *

_Shelby drifted in and out of consciousness a few times during the night at the hospital. When she finally fully woke, a nurse was hovering over her. 

"How are you feeling?" the woman asked.

"My mouth feels like cotton, there are jackhammers in my head and I want you to amputate my arm," Shelby told her.

The nurse smiled. "Sounds like you're just fine. I'll bring you water and painkillers."

Shelby squinted against the bright sun flooding the mostly white room. She saw a sleeping figure in a chair in the corner but couldn't make out who it was. When Maggie Fellows, Ben's wife, entered the room, Shelby knew it was her faithful partner sleeping there. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Danny. She was pretty sure she remembered him being there – in spite of her strict instructions not to be.

"Hey, sweetie," Maggie said softly, her maternal instincts in full-force. "How are you?"

Shelby forced a grin. "I've been better."

"You look like shit," Ben's groggy voice came out of the corner.

"Yeah, and you look so much better," Shelby answered him.

Ben grinned and let out a groan as he heaved himself off the chair. "Glad you're okay, kiddo," he said.

"Was anyone else hurt?" she asked.

"Nope. Your surprise idiotic plan got everyone out of the building before the meth-amphetamine lab they had set up there blew the whole place to smithereens," Ben explained.

"What? The building blew?" Shelby asked in shock.

"Well, not the whole building, but there was enough of an explosion to basically gut the place." Ben smiled down at her. "You were right, there was definitely something wrong. How did you know?"

Shelby just shook her head, trying to absorb this latest information. "I don't know."

"Well, whatever the case, you did awesome, even if you didn't warn me about what you were planning."

"I didn't really plan it, to be honest," she admitted. "It just kinda – happened."

"Women's instinct," Maggie stated with a grin and a squeeze of Shelby's good hand.

"Was Danny there?" Shelby asked, because she just really needed to know.

"Yeah. He showed up about five minutes before you pulled your party trick. He was here all night, but Maggie sent him home about an hour ago," Ben explained. "God knows how far you would have run if he hadn't stopped you."

The nurse came back in just then with a bottle of water and a cup of pills. "Not enough to knock you out this time, sorry," she apologized with a smile. "But it should get rid of the jackhammers at least."

"Thanks," Shelby said, taking the items from her and quickly swallowing the lot down.

"Hey, Mags, you wanna go see if there's any breakfast to be had in this place?" Ben asked his wife after the nurse left.

"Sure. I'll be right back," she said, with a knowing look at her husband.

Ben pulled a chair up to Shelby's bed. She was trying to peek under her bandages to see how bad her wound was.

"Shelby, I want you to keep this guy."

She looked up at her friend and partner. "What?"

"This Danny Messer. I think you should hang on to him."

"Ben, come on. You know how good I am at relationships…"

"Don't start with me. I know you better than that. You're just scared, that's all."

"Yeah, I'm scared. I'm scared I'll lose everything I've worked for in my job. I can't have anything to lose in order to do this well. You know that."

"No, Shelby, I've never bought that. I'm tired of you insisting that you 'need' to be alone. It's a crock of shit and you know it. Besides, this Danny guy suits you. Hell, even Don thinks so."

She gave him an incredulous look. "Suits me? What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what that's supposed to mean," Ben said. "Look, little sister, all I'm saying is that maybe it's time to stop running. Just – think about it, okay?"

She turned away from him. He was right, of course, but she wasn't about to let him know that. She had already decided that she was going to tell Danny this 'thing', or whatever it was, was not going to happen. She had a momentary lack of judgment, but now she was seeing clearly again.

Ben and Maggie stayed for a little while longer then announced that they needed to retrieve their kids from Maggie's mom.

The doctor came in and told her that he wanted to keep her for observation for at least another two hours and then she could go home. It was then that Shelby realized that she had no way to get home. She sighed, frustrated at her situation. She felt out of control and she hated it.

She was in the middle of changing into the clothes Maggie had left her when she heard the knock.

"Come in," she called absently, trying to figure out a way to get her pants on without hurting her arm too badly. The nurse had already helped her with her shirt, so Shelby hoped she was back to finish the job.

"Shot in the arm, but still looking to get some?" Danny asked her with a grin upon seeing her in her state of half-undress.

She looked up to see him standing there in a t-shirt and jeans with a big bouquet in his hand. "Ha, ha," she laughed dryly. "Mocking an invalid, how nice."

"Here," he said, putting the flowers down on the bed and bending down to help her into her pants. The feel of his hands on her stomach as he zipped and buttoned her was enough to make her pulse race. She grit her teeth in order to stick to her resolve.

He didn't move away from her right away. Instead, he kissed her forehead. "I'm glad you're okay."

She pulled away from him. "Me too. Thanks for…" she was kinda at a loss. She hardly remembered what happened after she started running.

"For saving your life?" he prompted.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I got shot in the arm. Hardly life threatening."

"A guy can dream, can't he?"

She sighed, but couldn't help smiling. "Those for me?" she asked, indicating the flowers.

"Nope. My other girlfriend. She took one in foot," he joked. He didn't like the distance she was forcing between them. She looked so tired, and he just wanted to hold her.

She walked over to the bathroom to have a look at her appearance. She looked like she'd been on a vicious bender. She ran a hand through her curly hair, but knew there was no point in trying to tame it.

"Could you do me a favor?" she asked.

"Sure."

"I need a ride home."

He grinned. "No problem. Your carriage awaits," he said with a flourish and a bow.

Shelby fought with herself the entire car ride home. This shouldn't be this hard, she thought to herself.

Danny helped her up into apartment, trying to keep the conversation light. He sat down next to her on the couch once all her stuff had been put away. She hadn't said much since the hospital and it worried him. He braced himself for the worst, but leaned down and kissed her anyway. Maybe, just maybe he could change her mind…

She returned the kiss, it was soft and sweet as though he were trying to be very careful about not hurting her. She turned away and sighed heavily.

He winced in spite of himself.

"I need to walk away," she said quietly.

He'd been expecting that. He and Ben had talked ad nauseum about how afraid she was to commit to anything or anyone other than her work. "Okay."

This time, she winced. She had kind of thought he would fight her. They both got up and walked towards the door. She couldn't look him in the eye, she felt so guilty about all of this.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "See you around, Shelby," was all he said before walking away.

She closed the door behind him and collapsed back on to the couch. She felt cold and alone and angry.


	18. Careful's for Cowards

AN Well here it is the epilogue to this tale. I hope you guys enjoyed it. In fact if you did…let us know! Dream ;)

* * *

"_See you around, Shelby."_

Those four words swam around her head constantly. She couldn't turn it off, none of her abilities that usually helped her shut the world off would get his voice to stop repeating that sentence. It drove her nuts. She was going insane. She couldn't think of anything else but him! This wasn't how it was supposed to work. She was supposed to let him go and then get back to her life of solitude.

"_I'm tired of you insisting that you 'need' to be alone. It's a crock of shit and you know it. Besides, this Danny guy suits you. Hell, even Don thinks so."_

She punched her couch cushion. Ben could be so infuriating sometimes, especially when he was right. Thinking of something she dialed a familiar number, one that she hadn't dialed in a long time.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to call me."

She rolled her eyes, "I hate call display."

"I love it actually, so you finally coming to your senses?"

"I can not believe we are having this conversation. You just up and got over me? Just like that?"

Flack laughed, "Well I had some help, but this isn't about me is it?"

She rubbed her hand over her face and sighed, "I'm probably too late anyway, it's been over a month."

"Don't even try talking yourself out of it now Shelby. As much as it kills me to say this you guys are perfect for each other."

"Wow Don that was hard for you wasn't it? Did a woman help you?"

"Again not talking about me, go woo the man Shelby I was doing something important."

"Really? Like what?"

"I'm hanging up now and just so you know he's at O'Maley's."

"How do you know?"

"A little bird told me." He said and hung up before she could ask him who the bird was.

She groaned to herself, "This sucks ass!" She said to the air, then just gave up fighting and stood. "Might as well get this over with, if he's going to drive me crazy anyway he might as well be in my life. Great, I'm talking to myself." She called a cab and grabbed her purse to go downstairs and wait for it. This was scarier than facing an entire drug cartel, because this had to do with her heart, something she'd been guarding for longer than she could remember.

Danny drank some of his beer the lolled his head from side to side in an effort to ease the tension that consistently sat at the base of his neck. He sighed when his neck cracked then indicated to the bartender that he wanted another.

"What are you drinking to forget?"

He didn't look at her just nodded his thanks at the bartender, "The one that got away."

This was reminiscent of their first meeting and she knew it, "Okay I deserved that."

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and gave her a small smile, "Perp, not love interest."

She laughed nervously and berated herself for being so out of control, "You aren't making this easy for me."

Finally turning to actually look at her he raised an eyebrow, "Making what easy for you?"

Okay him looking at her was much worse than when he wasn't. She started wringing her hands, "I just don't normally do this."

"Do what?"

"Groveling."

He laughed, "This is groveling? I didn't know they changed the meaning of the term."

"Listen Danny I…"

"If this is going to be a nicer way of letting me down then it's really not necessary." He looked back down at his drink.

"It's not, uh, it's not that at all."

"Well careful then, cause I've been looking into picket fences."

She smiled at him and put a hand to his cheek and coaxed his face to look at her, "Careful's for cowards."


End file.
